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Privacy Policy

Effective as of August 1, 2012

Privacy Policy

I. Introduction

The American Pharmacists Association (“APhA”), the owner and operator of www.pharmacist.com (the “Site”), respects your privacy as a user of the Site. Please read this Privacy Policy so that you can understand what information is collected on the Site, how that information is used, with whom it is shared, and how it is protected against unauthorized access. To make this notice easy to locate, we make it available on our home page and throughout the Site.

Note that this Privacy Policy may be updated from time to time. You should check it regularly to make certain that you are kept up to date. Questions about this Privacy Policy should be directed to: infocenter@aphanet.org.

II. What information is collected on the Site?

This section of the Privacy Policy describes the types of information collected on the Site. The information collected on the Site falls into two categories: (1) information that you provide when you engage in transactions on the Site, register for the Site, or enroll as an APhA member, and (2) information gathered about how you navigate the Site.

Information that you provide when engaging in transactions on the Site, registering for the Site, or enrolling as an APhA member includes the following:

Name
Primary mailing address
Primary telephone number
Primary fax number
E-mail address
Additional demographic information such as practice setting, job function, and license number is requested, but not required.

You may also provide, at your option, a secondary address, telephone number, or fax number. For example, you may provide your home address, telephone, and fax numbers as your primary contact information and a business address, telephone, and fax number as your secondary contact information.

If you decide to enroll as an APhA member on the Site, you will also be asked for the college(s) of pharmacy or other educational institutions from which you have earned degrees, your date(s) of graduation, and the APhA Academy and Section you wish to join. APhA members may also elect to join one or more special interest groups and to receive certain e-newsletters that are provided as a benefit of membership. APhA members may opt in or out of APhA e-newsletters by updating their profiles on the Site. After logging into the Site, click on your name then "Edit my Preferences."

When you place an order on the Site, we may also collect information you provide about someone else to whom you wish to ship products. We do not share this information with outside parties except to the extent necessary to complete that order.

The Site receives and stores certain types of information whenever you interact with us. The Site may collect and log your IP address and your browser information to determine how to facilitate services online and administer the Site. We may collect information on pages visited, frequency of visits, and length of time spent to make improvements that will enhance your experience with us. We also use "cookies" and collect passwords to facilitate your navigation through the Site. Cookies are small files that your web browser places on your computer's hard drive. You can easily adjust your browser settings to prevent cookie data from being stored on your computer; however certain Site functions may not operate if you do so. We do not allow third parties to use cookies on the Site.

III. How is the information you provide on the Site used?

This section of the Privacy Policy describes how the information that you provide on the Site is used. The information you provide is used for four purposes: (1) to control access to the Site, (2) to provide the products or services you purchase through the Site, (3) to contact you about APhA activities, and (4) to understand how you interact with the Site so that the Site may be improved to better meet your needs.

In addition, the name, address, e-mail, telephone, and fax numbers you provide on the Site may be used to send you APhA periodicals, resource catalogs, information on programs such as the APhA Annual Meeting, educational programs, and announcements from APhA, and e-newsletters and ballots for APhA elections.

We also may conduct voluntary surveys of Site users (for example mailing or e-mailing you a questionnaire).

IV. With whom is the information you provide on the Site shared?

This section of the Privacy Policy describes how the information you provide on the Site may be shared with parties other than APhA and how you may control such information sharing. There are four ways in which information that you provide on the Site may be shared: (1) with agents of APhA who are performing web or internet services, including without limitation, hosting and maintenance; data entry; customer service; product fulfillment tasks; or payment processing, under contract, (2) with organizations seeking to contact you about pharmacy-related news, professional information, or educational resources, (3) with research organizations, and (4) with a select few organizations offering professional services to pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, or pharmacy students. With the exception of (1), the Site offers you the option not to have your information shared.

Name and address, telephone or fax number, e-mail address, and credit card information may be provided to third parties operating under contract to APhA for such purposes as fulfilling product orders, handling meeting registrations, or providing continuing education exam grading services. Contract terms specifically forbid these third parties from making any other use of your information. Credit card information provided on the Site is not permanently stored by APhA or the third parties that perform the functions listed in this paragraph.

Name and address information collected on the Site may be made available for limited, one-time use by organizations seeking to contact you with information about products, programs, or services relevant to the professional or educational needs of pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, or pharmacy students. E-mail addresses are not made available to any such third party. Requests for such use of your address information are reviewed to ensure that the information that is to be provided is consistent with the professional nature of APhA and the professional and educational needs of the pharmacy community. You may specify that your name and address information not be used for the purposes enumerated in this paragraph by sending an e-mail with the subject "no informational mailings" to infocenter@aphanet.org.

APhA may provide name and address, telephone, or e-mail information collected on the Site to research firms operating under contract to APhA, to researchers at colleges of pharmacy or other recognized educational, or to research organizations seeking to conduct studies on pharmacy practice, education, or training on a voluntary basis (that is, you may be asked but never required to participate in such studies). Such organizations will be permitted to use personally identifiable information only to contact you regarding the study. You may specify that your name and address information not be used for the purposes enumerated in this paragraph by sending an e-mail with the subject "no surveys" to infocenter@aphanet.org.

Name and address information collected on the Site may be made available to a small number of providers of professional liability or other insurance products, credit card, banking, or investment services, telephone discount, or automobile rental companies for the purpose of sending you mail about their products, programs, and services. You may specify that your name and address information not be used for the purposes enumerated in this paragraph by sending an e-mail with the subject "no offers" to infocenter@aphanet.org.

Pharmacist.com may disclose personally identifiable information in special cases if we find it necessary to identify, contact, or bring legal action against someone who may be violating the policies of the Site or APhA or causing injury to or interference with the Site, its users, or anyone else that could be harmed by such activities. Pharmacist.com also may disclose personally identifiable information as is required or appropriate in order to comply with the law.

V. How we protect the information you provide on the Site

This section of the Privacy Policy explains how the information that you provide when you register with the Site, conduct transactions on the Site, or enroll as an APhA member is protected against unauthorized use.

We will undertake commercially reasonable procedures to help to ensure that the information you provide to us is protected against loss, misuse, alteration, destruction, or unauthorized access. To prevent unauthorized access, maintain data accuracy, and ensure the correct use of information, we have put in place commercially reasonable physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online.

The information stored in your profile and Continue Education account is protected by the user name and password that you were provided when your pharmacist.com account was created. You may change your user name and password at any time by logging onto the Site, clicking “Login” then “Request a New Password.” You are encouraged to change passwords periodically and to protect your user name and password as you would other personally sensitive information.

Whenever you are finished using the Site, you are encouraged to log out by clicking the "log out" button located on the home page and most other pages within the Site. To prevent others from accessing your personal account information, it is particularly important to log out if you are using a shared or publicly accessible computer.

All information that you provide on the Site is stored in a database residing on servers that employ commercially reasonable measures that utilize both software and physical means to secure against unauthorized access thereto. Access to your information by employees of APhA, and third parties working on the Site or providing services under contract to APhA is on a "need to know" basis, in which access is permitted only for specific jobs or job functions (for example, billing clerks, customer service representatives, website hosting and maintenance, and payment processing).

Credit card and other personal information that you provide on the Site is transmitted over the internet using a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) connection. SSL is the industry-standard method for protecting confidential web communications, such as credit card numbers, online forms, and financial data, from interception and hacking.

While APhA takes commercially reasonable steps to secure your information collected on the Site, you can do your part to protect the information collected on the Site about you by securing your pharmacist.com user name and password as described above, and by logging out when you finish using the Site. However, you should be aware that despite the security procedures that APhA employs, no security system is impenetrable nor can we guarantee that the information you provide will not be intercepted while being transmitted over the internet or residing on or through the Site. You should particularly note that although it is illegal to intercept, disclose or otherwise access these messages and data under Federal law, e-mail is not secure, so you should not send confidential or personally sensitive information via e-mail.

VI. How you can change information that you provide on the Site

Pharmacist.com provides users with 24-hour access to their personal information after it has been collected. You can access all of your personally identifiable information that we collect online (your "profile") and maintain it by logging into the Site and clicking on your name. You may also send changes to APhA Membership Services Department, 2215 Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20037. To further protect your privacy and security, we will also take reasonable steps to verify your identity before granting access to make corrections. When you update information, we usually keep a record of the prior version for our records.

VII. Anonymous browsing

You are also given the option of visiting the Site without offering any information about yourself. Please note that you will not be able to purchase certain products or visit certain areas of the Site as an anonymous browser.

VIII. Acceptance of Privacy Policy by user

The use of this Site and submission of personal data to the Site constitute the User's acknowledgement that he or she has read, understood, and accepted this Privacy Policy, and agrees to its terms.

APhA reserves the right to modify or supplement this Privacy Policy statement at any time. If we make a material change, we will post a notice on our home page with a link to the updated Privacy Policy. Please read any such notice and the new Privacy Policy. Your continued use of this Site after we post such notice will constitute your acceptance of the new terms and their application to your use of this Site and the information disclosed for such use, including information previously furnished to us, as if they were the original terms.

Pharmacist.com contains links to other websites. Pharmacist.com has no control over, and is not responsible for, the privacy policies or content of these sites.

IX. For additional information/questions/comments

Requests for additional information, questions, or comments about this Privacy Policy may be directed to infocenter@aphanet.org.